Compelling ... At its best when it slows down for the actual science. One of the most gripping accounts involves Alec Radford ... Roose does a superb job of contextualizing — even humanizing — all this prideful, erratic behavior while erratic behavior, in both humans and machines, becomes the book’s shadow subject ... There are many books yet to be written about this fascinating, frightening time in human history, assuming there will be anyone left to read them. Roose has provided an excellent foundation for those future efforts — one that moves, surprises and informs.
An absorbing and accessible origin story of an astonishing, powerful technology that’s been imbued by its creators with the echoes of their own 'jagged' human intelligence—unevenly brilliant and capable, not necessarily wise, sometimes deceptive and essentially unknowable.
